Over 300 mothers in mass breastfeeding at mall

Breastfeeding mothers join the simultaneous breastfeeding event at the Festive Walk Mall in Mandurriao, Iloilo City on Saturday, Aug. 4. Breastfeeding Ilonggas, the organizing group, had the most number of participants this year at 369 in its four years of joining the “Global Big Latch On.” IAN PAUL CORDERO/PN

ILOILO City – Over 300 mothers joined a simultaneous breastfeeding event at the Festive Walk Mall in Mandurriao district yesterday.

Aimed at “normalizing” breastfeeding, the event dubbed “Hakab Na: Global Big Latch On 2018” was held in line with the World Breastfeeding Week.

The activity “ideally gina-hold sa public place wherein madamo ang makakita because ang goal is normalizing (breastfeeding),” said Adhara Sebuado, a cofounder of the organizing group Breastfeeding Ilonggas.

A total of 369 mothers participated in yesterday’s mass breastfeeding.

“The more people see women breastfeed, the more normal (the practice) appears in the eyes of others,” said Adhara.

In addition, the event aims to encourage mothers to “extend the duration of breastfeeding” up until their child is 2 years old, Sebuado said.

Most mothers exclusively breastfeed up until their child is 6 months old – they then replace breast milk with formula – and only a few extends the practice beyond this age, Sebuado said, citing a World Health Organization study.

Breastfeeding Ilonggas has been participating in the Global Big Latch On for four years already and it was only this year that their participants almost reached 400, she said.

In 2014 only 52 breastfeeding mothers joined; in 2015, there were 100; in 2016, 169; and in 2017, 182.

Sebuado clarified that there were 540 mothers present at the activity but they counted only 369 who actually breastfed their children.

“This is an important activity,” said Mayor Jose Espinosa III, who was also present. “Ginahatagan [sini] sang atensyon ang kabataan nga i-breastfeed. Lain gid man ang nutrition nga makuha nila sa natural milk sang nanay.”

Espinosa said he believes breastfeeding allows for a unique bond between the child and the mother./PN

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here